Thursday, January 27, 2005

FEAR PARANOIA ? & THE AMERICAN EMPIRE/ONE WORLD UNDER GOD & THE AMERICAN WAY/ OR JUST DEJA VU OF THE UGLY AMERICAN

PICASSO'S GUERNICA WHICH EXPRESSED HIS REVULSION OF THE ATTACK ON THE TOWN GUERNICAPosted by Hello

First some headlines:

From the right we have Norman Podhoretz of COMMENTARY MAGAZINE with his article The War Against World War IV defending the policies of George W. Bush. He even defends the practice of torture on susspected terrorists.
The article drones on for a number of pages but it is the same old conservative doctrine of the 1950s of Joseph McCarthy & Barry Goldwater & the various public persona of Richard Nixon etc. So here we go again.
Here are the first few lines of the article by Podhoretz:

"Will George W. Bush spend the next few years backing down from the ambitious strategy he outlined in the Bush Doctrine for fighting and winning World War IV?

To be sure, Bush himself still calls it the "war on terrorism," and has shied away from giving the name World War IV to the great conflict into which we were plunged by 9/11. (World War III, in this accounting, was the cold war.) Yet he has never hesitated to compare the fight against radical Islamism, and the forces nurturing and arming it, with those earlier struggles against Nazism and Communism. Nor has he flinched from suggesting that achieving victory as the Bush Doctrine defines it may take as long as it took to win World War III (which lasted more than four decades—from the promulgation of the Truman Doctrine in 1947 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989)."www.commentarymagazine.comFebruary 2005

From the left or liberal side:

Human Rights Watch - Defending Human Rights Worldwide
Home page for Human Rights Watch, an organization dedicated to protecting the
human rights of people around the world. We stand with victims and activists ...www.hrw.org/

America's human rights abuses have provided a rallying cry for terrorists and set a bad example to regimes seeking to justify their own poor rights records, a leading independent watchdog said yesterday.

The torture and degrading treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay have undermined the credibility of the US as a defender of human rights and opponent of terrorism, the New York-based Human Rights Watch says in its annual report.

"The US government is less and less able to push for justice abroad because it is unwilling to see justice done at home," says Kenneth Roth, the group's executive director.

The report comes as the Bush administration prepares for inauguration next week. The administration has shown little interest in moderating its aggressive approach to its "global war on terror".

So there I am reading the Guardian & the New Yorker on line & watching CBC & BBC & I don't feel as bad about my rant in my last post . It is as if the Paranoid Liberals fears were being realized. It seems a foregone conclusion that the US will take some form of military action against Iran in the near future & about ten other countries will be targeted for future military action.

Those in power argue they need to use covert operations like those done before in countries like El Salvador where the death squads were set up & financed by the US government through the CIA. But we are told this role is to be taken over by the Civilian side of the Pentagon. Maybe the Pentagon will contract these programs out to private security firms & will they then take part in bidding wars or will only those companies which Rumsfeld ,Cheney, Powell Or the Bush family have investments in be the only ones considered.

One suggestion would be that they could enlist some of those well-trained right-wing para-military groups( usually white supremicists who were in the past anti-government ) now that there is a whole New Game in town. If some other country were to take such actions the Americans would be among the first to condemn such a country as they did whenever the Former Soviet Union were suspected of interfering with the internal politics of some other state .

Some people might be concerned about who the targets inside these countries would be. It will depend on how broad a definition of Insurgents, Subversives, Radicals & extremists militants ,Islamic or otherwise that this new group will ascribe to. In the past we know the definition of Subversives was widened in countries as it was in El Salvador to include all those who were critical of the particular regime in power & not just ARMED INSURGENTS & REVOLUTIONARIES . In El Salvadore DEATH SQUADS murdered nuns & priests & teachers & lawyers & social Workers who were outspoken against a vicious & ruthless regime . They were under the delusion that even the poor should be treated fairly by their government.

Individuals were also targeted who either spoke out asking that the poor & workers of the country should get a better deal & that everyone be treated equally & fairly by the justice system .

Nor will they allow a free & open society to be created where there would then be Freedom of the Press, if that Press were to voice criticism of the government in power or criticize American Goals & activities in that particular government. In the present administration's view these countries must accept that their very existence depends on the will & largess of the USA so they are to become Client States or satelite states of America & so increase the influence of the American Empire.

We awaken to find ourselves in a society which wants to encourage intolerance & not tolerance. If instead of maintaining this Seige Mentality the US were to make greater diplomatic efforts & where necessary extend a helping hand through various initiatives of aid & by making more just & fair trade agreements wth these various countries but that will not happen in part because such policies would not be helpful to the Big Multi-national Conglomerates ie. is it good for WalMart, MacDonalds, the Pharmecutical Companies-

Anyway we see the Military Industrial Complex is still pulling the strings but now with the help of Neo-Conservatives & the Religious Right.

I still wonder when will we see massive protests in the US by those millions of voters who do not agree with the present regime. It also depends on how far this Regime will push its Domestic Policy Agenda ie overturning Roe v Wade & outlawing abortion will they begin denying Gays & Lesbians equal rights, will they insist on prayer being allowed back into the schools along with that contradicion in terms Scientific Creationism & therefore oust Charles Darwin from the schools once again.